Filling-detector for automatic looms.



W. A. MITCHELL. FILLING DETECTOR FOR. AUTOMATIC LOOMS. APPLIGATION FILED NOV. 22, 1913.

1 1 1 0,074, Patented p 8, 1914.

WILLIAM A. MITCHELL, F LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS.

FILLING-DETECTOR FOR AUTOMATIC LOOMS.

Specification of Letters Iatent.

Patented Sept. 8, 1914.

Application filed November 22, 1913. Serial No; 802,566.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM A. MrroH- ELL, a citizen of the United States, reslding at Lowell, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Filling-Detectorsfor Automatic Looms; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the nvention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The present invention relates to an improvement in filling detectors for automatlo looms.

In feeler looms wherein the filling detectorindicates filling exhaustion by feeling of the filling on the bobbin in the shuttle irregular positioning of the bobbin in the shuttle 1s a cause of irregularities in the operation of thefilling supply mechanism. Thus, in case the bobb1n should occup a diagonal position in the shuttle, it wou d indicate a larger (or smaller) amount of yarn than was actually present upon the bobbin, so in the former case a new bobbin might be inserted by the filling supply mechanism and before the filling on the bobbin in the shuttle had become economically exhausted, or, on the other hand, the filling on the bobbin might become entirely exhausted before filling absence would be indicated, with a resulting defect in the cloth. Heretofore it has been proposed to use a determinator or detector device for determinin the position at which the feeler should irfdicate filling absence, which engaged the surface of the bobbin by penetrating the yarn mass, or which engaged the butt of the bobbin Or the bobbin surface below the filling, or the outside of the shuttle, but all of these constructions depend for their operation upon the position of parts which are more or less uncertain. Thus the position of the bobbin in the shuttle, the size or position of the butt, the surface of theshuttle, cause uncertain operation of the filling supply mechanism, with a consequent waste of filling, because it is necessary that the filling supply mechanism should be operated so as to secure the insertion of a new bobbin before the filling on the bobbin is exhausted.

The object of this invention is to produce a form of filling detector such that it will operate, in spite of variations in the position of the bobbin, to cause a new bobbin to be inserted in the shuttle before filling exhaustion, with such certainty that a very considerable saving in yarn is secured. This is accomplished by the use of an equalizing determinator in connection with the feeler, so constructed and arranged that it operates to determine the position at which the feeler indicates the necessity for a new bobbin by the joint control of two surfaces by which the determinator is positioned. In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, these two surfaces are the surface of the bobbin and the surface of the shuttle. Thus irregularities in the position of the bobbin only partiall determine the operation of the feeler. In t e illustrated embodiment this surface of the bobbin has only about onehalf or one-third the control of the opera tion of the feeler that the surface of the shuttle has. 1

In the accompanying drawings illustrating the preferred form of the invention, Figure l is a plan of the shuttle showing the detector in position with relation thereto when the bobbin is full; Fi 2 is a plan which shows the position of t e parts when the yarn has become so far exhausted that a new filling supply should be inserted in the shuttle; Flg. 3 1s a sectional elevation showing the position of the parts shown in the plan in Fig. 1; and Fig. 4 is a sectional elevation showing the parts in the positions which they occupy in Fig. 2.

The illustrated embodiment of the invention is described as follows The shuttle is provided with the usual feeler opening 11 in its side, and carries the usual bobbin 12 supported in the spring jaws 13 in the usual manner. The feeler slide 14 is supported in the feeler box 15 in the usual manner. The filling supply controller 16 enters the feeler box 15 in the usual manner and isadapted to be engaged by thetongue 17 of the feeler 20. When the feeler tongue 17 is pushed forward without being lifted, it engages the filling supply controller 16 and causes a new supply of filling to be inserted in the shuttle. The feeler 20 is pivoted at 21 in the feeler slide 14: and it carries a rearwardly extended yarn-engaging portion 22 which, unless prevented by the operation of the determinator hereinafter described, operates upon engagement with the yarn to tilt the feeler so as to Eli raise it to the position illustrated in 3 and thereby prevent the tongue of the feeler from engaging the filling supply controller.

The determmator, or device by which the operation. of the filling supply mechanism is determined, consists of a lever 23 pivotally mounted at 24: upon the support 25. The shank 26 of this support is received in an car 27 mounted on the side of the feeler slide 14:, and two nuts 30 and 31 secure the support in adjusted position. The determinator 23 has an upwardly turned car 32 adapted to engage the surface 38 of the outside of the shuttle 10. This ear 32 is the sluittle-engaging portion of the determina tor. The other or bobbin-engaging end 34- of the determinator, is located two or three times as far from the pivot pin 2i as the shuttloengaging portion of the determinator, and it is adapted to engage the yarn mass or bobbin upon each beat of the lay. The determinator support 25 is provided with a second shanlt 35 which is received in a hole in the feeler slide 14 and serves as an additional holding means for such support. The determinator 23 is provided with a pin 36 which projects downward from its lower side between the two shanks :26 and 35 of the support 25 and limits the capacity of movement of the determinator so that it cannot assume an in.- operative position.

do long as there remains a substantial supply oi fillin on the bobbin, the determinator and the feeler operate to cause the feels-r slide to be driven forward upon each detecting beat of the lay each time tilting the feeler tongue and preventin it from as suming the operative position lustrated in Fig. l. When now the fillingsupply becomes so far exhausted that gaging end of the determinator engages the bobbin and the shuttle-engaging end of the determinator engages the shuttle upon a detecting beat of the lay, and the yarn on the bobbin is so small in quantity as to fail to tilt the feeler so as to lift the feeler tongue from operative to inoperative position, then the tongue will engage the filling supply controller and cause a new supply of filling to be inserted in the shuttle.

it is to be observed that irregularities in the position of the bobbin will have only about one-half or one-third of the effect of positioning the determinator that the surface of the shuttle has. The surface of the bobbin and the surface of the shuttle togather cooperate to position the determinator so as to iii: the time when the filling supply controller shall be operated to cause a new supply of filling to be inserted in the bobbin, and the weight to which these two surfaces contribute to po sition the determinator is inversely the distance of the portions of the determiner the bobbin-entor which engage the bobbin and the shuttle, respectively, from the pivot 24. We have,

therefore, an equalizing determinator for determining the position at which the feeler shall cause an operation of the filling supply controller. .lhis equalizing determinator, in the illustrated embodiment, is governed in its operation by the surface of the bobbin and the surface of the shuttle, but the invention is not limited to this specific form of determinator, as it is within the purview of the invention to position the determinator by engagement with any two or more selected surfaces of either'the bobbin or the shuttle, or both, which for convenience may be designated bobbin-shuttle surfaces, the gist of the invention residing in providing a filling detector with an equalizing determinator. Other features of the invention are also the subject of claims.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed is:-

l. A filling detector for automatic looms having,"in combination, a feeler having a portion adapted to engage the filling in the shuttle, a filling supply controller, and an equalizing determinator for regulating the time at which the feeler shall cause the oporation of the filling supply controller, said feeler and equalizing determinator having pivotal movements at right angles to each other, substantially as described.

A filling detector for automatic looms havlng, in combination, a feeler having a portion adapted to engage the filling in the shuttle, a filling supply controller, and a de terminator having two portions for engagement with bobbin and shuttle surfaces for determining the time at which the feeler shall cause the operation of the filling sup- .ply controller, substantially as descri 3. A filling detector for automatic looms having, in combination, a feeler having a portion adapted to engage the filling in the shuttle, a filling supply controller, a filling determinator having two portions, the one forengaging a portion of the bobbin, the other for engaging the surface of the shuttle, conjointly operating to fix the time when the feeler shall cause an operation of the filling supply controller, substantially as de scribed.

a. A filling detector for automatic looms having, in combination, a feeler having a portion adapted to engage the filling in the shuttle, a filling supply controller, a pivotally mounted equalizing determinator for regulating the time at which the feeler shall cause an operation of the filling supply controller, and means for adjustin the determinator, substantially as described.

5. A filling detector for automatic looms having, in combination, a detector slide, a feeler pivotally mounted on the slide having a portion adapted to engage the filling in the shuttle, a filling supply controller, and an equalizing cleterminatoi mounted on the slide for regulating the time at which the feeler shall cause the operation of the filling supply controller, substantially as described.

6. A filling detector for automatic looms having, in combination, a detector slide, a feeler mounted on the slide having a portion adapted to engage the filling in the shuttle, a filling supply controller, and an equalizing tleterminetor'mounted on the slide having two portions for engagement with bobbin and shuttle surfaces for determining the time at which the feelei" shall cause the operation of the filling supply controller, substantially as described. 5

WILLIAM A. MITCHELL.

Witnesses v A. E. GREGORY, R, W. Poms.

s patent may he obtained for live cents cash, by addressing the Gommissioner of Eetents,

Washington, 33., e." 

